COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONThe Cantillon brewery is closely linked to Brussels, a city which has the iris as its symbol. As the name indicates, the "marsh iris" is a plant growing in humid areas. The historical center of Brussels is built on swamps where this flower used to grow abundantly.
In 1998, the Brussels Museum of the Gueuze celebrated its 20th anniversary. The Cantillon brewery decided to make a new spontaneous fermentation beer for this occasion, named after this symbolic flower.
It is a completely original beer which, contrary to the other products of the Brewery, is not brewed with 35% of wheat. The Iris, which is only made with malt of the pale ale type (giving a more amber colour to the beer) conserves the typical flavour of the spontaneous fermentation, the complex aromas and the vinous taste.
The hopping is different too. Lambic is made with 100% dried hops, for the Iris we use 50% of dried hops and 50% of fresh hops. The latter cause a superb acidity, the former, due to their tannins, enable to conserve the beer while preserving all its qualities.
After two years in the barrel, the Iris undergoes a second fresh hopping two weeks before the bottling. A linen bag, filled with hops, is soaked in the beer for two weeks. This technique, called "cold hopping", gives the beer a more intense savour and makes the smell and the taste more bitter.

Bottle provided by csbosox at his tasting 7/3. This was my first unblended lambic, and it is definitely a memorable beer. Pours a hazy, golden orange with a thin off-white head. The nose is dominated by some serious funk. Sweat socks, yeast, and bready notes. Light to medium-bodied, tart and dry. The flavor was definitely superior to the nose: dry, sour, and neutral. It reminds me of sour apple absent any real sweetness; very interesting. Thanks again for breaking this one out, Chris.

37.5 cL bottle (2003). Pours deep orange to amber with a little lacing head. Acidic and slight woody aroma, no sweat notes - nice :) Flavour has some distinct wood notes together with a nice sourness. Maltiness is identifyable beneath the sourness and in the finish. This maltiness makes the finish together with a woody/smoke note and bitterness. Nice dry, citric and sour. A floral note keeps lingering long after the finish - very interesting.

(2005) from csbosox. Enjoyed at the csbosox tasting 7/3. Pour is cloudy orange-yellow, with a very small white head. Aroma is a bit of a wildflower funk and bright citrus. Taste is very deep and complex, with earthiness, bright citrus flower and more of the funk.

750ml bottle provided by csbosox
Bright amber with some white head. Citrus aroma with some leather and cob webs. It starts of pretty fruity, then you get bombarded by a huge tart, acidic bitter slap in the face. Meduim body. This is rippin’ up my stomach already.

Absolutely heavenly. Sour and tart. Poured with like a Lambic should, lots of carbonation and a nice fluffy head which diminishes after a minute or so. What a refreshing beer. Great complex flavors with a long finish. One of the best Lambics out there. Cantilon makes some incredible beers!

UPDATED: DEC 30, 2007 Bottle from Uto. Bright amber with only a thin off white ring remaining from the dense fizz. Potent and sour nose. Vinegar, orange zest, grapefruit and hay, almost that typical lambic aroma but magnified. Wow, very intense and vinous or champagne like (I swear I wrote that before reading the commercial Description) with notes of citrus and yeast. To be sipped as wine and has that belly warming feeling. The mouth watering tartness coats the tongue and leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste. None the less, amazing stuff, I’ll definately have this again...And I said I’d never do hoppy...Re-Rate - Bottle from Quaffs
Here I am again with a whole 75cl to myself, woohoo!.I took a bottle of this to a tasting recently and we never got round to it so I left it for the others, I’ve been craving it ever since. This bottle is definitely not on par with the previous, I’m not sure why but the cork being cracked surely didn’t help. Golden or pale amber and what was at first a huge pillowy white head has withered to nothing. Smells like straw, grapefruit and apricots. Taste is similar but tart and salty with a little alcohol burn on the way down. More subdued and definitely not as intense as the last bottle but the last pour, with all the funk, livens it up a bit. Not quite the same experience but I’ll still drink this again, it’s great. 8, 3, 8, 4, 18.

UPDATED: JUN 29, 2007 2004 bottle, consumed at the brewery. Stale cheese aroma, cotton-ish dry mouthfeel. Nice amber with a thick head. Dizzingly complex and hard to rate. Yeasty, a bit sour, some grapes. A good beer but the malts really weigh on your palate and make it hard to get much into a bottle...my girlfriend and I took a long time to finish the 750 mL, and she’s no slouch when it comes to drinking her share, especially for a 95 pound 5’2" Japanese girl. I started playfully trying to take her glass from her and pour more into it, and she responded by saying that she would befriend the German group at the next table (ya know, her "allies"), as to make war on me. I guess I can forgive this given that she’s from Hiroshima...

I had this one on draft at Brouwers Belgian Beer Month in Seattle. Appearance was a cloudy yellow/orange and had an average head at first pour. Flavor was sour, like grapefruits, acid, citrus. Its smell was floral, mild hoppiness. I also liked how it lingered in my mouth.

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